Lucy and Gail, long-time producers of women’s events, are hosting a 3-day party in Las Vegas at the South Point Hotel, September 27-29, 2018 to celebrate 15 years of finding ways to keep lesbians entertained and engaged. It all began back in 2003 when they moved to Palm Springs and much to their dismay found there were almost no women of color in the desert. To remedy the situation they decided to throw a free house party during the Dinah Shore Weekend called Dinah in Color. It was an instant hit, as free parties usually are.
By 2006 the party had outgrown their backyard and was moved to a hotel in downtown Palm Springs. For the next several years Dinah in Color developed a large following with lesbians coming from around the country and from as far away as England and Japan. It even started to attract white women once they realized that in spite of the name all women were welcomed. It also became a place for women over 40 who often found themselves surrounded by women half their age during the Dinah Weekend.
In 2010 Dinah in Color hit the road and became more of a vacation than a weekend party, and as much a cultural event as a social event. For the next three years there were visits to museums, wine tasting in Napa and hiking in Red Rock Canyon Nevada. There were still parties but now there were authors and poets and performance artists and lots of live music, jazz music. This trend was going to take Lucy and Gail in a totally new direction.
By 2013 Dinah in Color became a full blown music festival: The Palm Springs Women Jazz Festival. A weekend devoted to promoting the work of women jazz artists. Within the jazz festival there was everything from painting classes to golf but now the emphasis was on the music. Lucy and Gail, who are Lucy DeBardelaben, an accountant, and Gail Christian, a retired TV newsperson, met back in the 80’s while working on the women’s music festival, Sisterfire, which drew several thousand women to the nation’s capital each year. They saw the jazz festival as a contemporary revival of the women’s music festivals of the 70’s and 80’s; a new take on Michigan.
Since then the best female jazz musicians in the world have come to Palm Springs each year to perform; both the very famous like Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diane Schuur and Terri Lyne Carrington, and the soon to be famous like Jazzmeia Horn and Kandace Springs.
This year they are postponing the festival a year to celebrate their 15th Anniversary. It will include jazz but also celebrates Dinah in Color which started out as a way to meet women of color in the desert and turned into more than a decade of bringing lesbians together to share their lifestyle and an appreciation of themselves.
